State Employment Law Articles

San Francisco recently adopted the “Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance,” which prohibits caregiver discrimination and gives employees a right to request “flexible” or “predictable working arrangements” to assist employees with caregiving responsibilities for children, family members with serious he

Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett has announced that he will sign the “benevolent gesture” bill after the legislation received unanimous support from lawmakers. The law permits health care providers, including hospitals, long-term care facilities and physicians, to offer a “benevolent gesture” (i.

The Court of Appeal for California’s Fourth Appellate District recently confirmed that the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (CUTSA), a broad statute intended to be the last word in trade secret misappropriation cases, does not preclude separate but related common law claims, so long as these cla

Protection from discrimination and retaliation has been extended to employees who are victims of stalking under an amendment to the California Labor Code, Sections 230 and 230.1. The prior version of the law covered only victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The amended law prohibits empl

On September 26, 2013, Jersey City, New Jersey became the latest jurisdiction to mandate that private sector employees receive paid sick leave. Jersey City joins a handful of U.S. cities1 with a mandatory paid sick leave requirement: San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; Portland, Oreg

California’s now familiar one-hour-of-pay premiums for missed meal and rest periods will gain more “heat” on January 1, 2014, when a one-hour-of-pay premium will be required for each day an employer fails to provide “recovery periods” to avoid heat-related illness for employees who work outside. The

California Governor Jerry Brown (D) has signed an amendment to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), Cal. Civ. Code § 12920 et seq., to include military or veteran status as a class protected from employment discrimination.

Legislation to prohibit employers from discharging, discriminating or retaliating against employees who are victims of certain offenses for taking time off from work to appear in any court proceeding in which their rights are in issue has been signed by California Governor Jerry Brown (D). Under the

San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee (D) has signed an Ordinance allowing employees working in the City to request flexible work arrangements to care for a child, family member with a serious health condition, or parent over age 65 without retaliation. Employers must consider employees’ requests and mus

On the heels of the U.S. Department of Labor’s expansion of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime rules to home care workers, California home care agencies will face another challenge with the recent passage of the Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act (AB 1217). This law pro

Partly in response to the inaction in Washington on immigration reform, the California Legislature, in the annual session concluded in mid-September,1 passed several bills which were signed by Governor Brown that either create or increase penalties for employers that consider an applicant's or emplo

The New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) issued final regulations, effective October 9, 2013, which explain how and when employers may make deductions for wage overpayments due to mathematical or clerical errors and for repayments of salary or wage advances.1 The final regulations include minor chan

Last month, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia ruled that a sheriff’s deputy failed to state a claim for invasion of privacy with respect to a drug test.

California has adopted a new law excluding from gross income, for state personal income tax purposes, any amount received by an employee from an employer to compensate for additional federal income taxes incurred by the employee from employer-provided health benefits because of the federal governmen

Effective January 1, 2014, private individuals employing domestic workers in California, such as childcare providers and caregivers, must pay such employees overtime at a rate of time-and-a-half for all hours worked in excess of nine in one day or more than 45 hours in one week. The new law will exp

Property owners wishing to prohibit concealed firearms from being carried on their property must post officially approved signage conspicuously at the entrance of their building, premises or real property, according to a regulation published by the Illinois State Police. Owners of parcels where conc

In an effort to decrease public and private health care costs and promote preventive health services by enabling workers to seek early and routine medical care for themselves and their family members, Jersey City, New Jersey, has enacted a City Ordinance mandating that all private employers in the c

A female construction worker who repeatedly complained about inadequate and unclean toilet facilities, and whose complaints were not addressed or remedied by her employer, could pursue her claim for punitive damages under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, the California Court of Appeal

The Colorado Division of Labor is conducting more than a thousand audits on employers each year to enforce Colorado’s Employment Verification Law. The Division has conducted approximately 200 complaint-based audits, 5,400 random audits, and 650 re-audits (more than 6,000 audits total) of employers w

The New York Commissioner of Labor has issued final regulations for the amendment to the state’s wage deduction statute, Labor Law § 193, that became effective November 6, 2012. The amendment, which contains a three-year expiration (November 6, 2015, unless extended), clarifies and limits prior rest